You mean I can’t buy books here? The London Book Fair

Okay, so technically you could buy books from Foyles. But I have to say that it is is a weird experience to be in a massive space filled with books, where what’s on offer isn’t the books themselves but the people behind them- and the various services they offer. From publishers in every niche and nook, to authors, to librarians, to people behind the scenes negotiating content rights…the professional world of the book is a very interesting place.

But before we go any further, I’ve another promise to fulfill.

The infiltration begins

Yes, that’s right, Cuddle Cthulhu came to the book fair with me. He is learning all the secrets of the publishing industry. I’m not sure why he needs to know them. Something sinister may be afoot…

Earl’s Court station wins for my favorite Underground station (what, you didn’t know that was a thing? Neither did I until there was a clear winner). There was one of these thoughts every day that we went, but this was my favorite.

Whose job is this? I want to give them hugs.

I definitely enjoyed the panel that Ernesto was on this morning. It was about new trends in academic research and implications for publishers. It was especially interesting learning that one of the other panelists was pretty against technology in the classroom and views pushes toward open access as a form of bullying. Now granted, I agreed with a good deal of what he was saying regarding the importance of the monograph and promoting original research, that publishers and academics should collaborate, and even his insistence that a lecturer needs charisma above all else. However, I disagreed with his staunchly reductionist view that technology and new innovations can’t play nice with all of these. #citylis has some of the most charismatic lecturers I know, and we seem to be doing alright on the technology front as well. I think reductionism of any kind is rarely the way to go; it can lock out a lot of other potentially useful or interesting views that might work well with yours.

I have so many thoughts on open access that it probably needs to be its own post (or possibly several). When I get around to them (eep coursework!).